Aux Nouveaux-nés

About

“Aux Nouveaux-nés is dedicated to Noelia Carrera Carrera. The movements can be performed separately or all in succession, but always in the correct order. This piece was composed as an exploration of the process of gestation. Four clarinets are used, from the lowest to the highest, and are connected by musical figures that mature and then evolve into new figures. The idea of renewal is the generative principle of the piece. I wanted to study the different possibilities of mutations, evolutions, constancies, and interventions of the various thematic elements while maintaining a formal framework with well-defined structural contours.

Aux Nouveaux-nés plays with different types of tension: the extreme registers used at the beginning and end of the piece—which confer a sense of instability to the listener—the repetition of pole notes—from the second movement to the end of the piece—the dynamic crescendo of melodies and their decrescendos—thus giving a “wave-like” effect—and the chopped rhythms accompanied by fluctuating accents. The piece thus evolves from the first held notes in the extreme low register to the sparkling, almost aggressive, high register at the end, all within an intimate, in utero, setting.”


Clara Olivares, September 2017